Kirkpatrick admitted in this week’s debate that she supports raising taxes on hardworking Arizonans and dangerously altering seniors’ benefits formula.

The Tobin campaign launched a new robocall campaign Thursday morning designed to educate Arizona’s seniors on Ann Kirkpatrick’s admission that she supports painful tax increases and benefit alterations with Social Security. (Listen here.)

On Tuesday night in Marana, Ann Kirkpatrick said that she supported raising the cap on contributions, which would mean more taxes for Arizona’s families and businesses. (Arizona Daily Star, 10/15/14)

She also said she supported altering the formula used to pay out the hard-earned benefits for seniors.

“Ann Kirkpatrick finally admitted to the voters on Tuesday that she will have no problem voting for a plan that would raise taxes on Arizonans and take an axe to the current formula that pays seniors their hard-earned benefits,” campaign manager Bill Cortese said in a statement. “Andy Tobin believes in preserving the promise of Social Security and leaving seniors’ benefits alone, and he refuses to raise taxes even further on Arizona’s hard-working families and small businesses.”

See below for the transcript of the new robocall.

Hi. I’m calling with the Andy Tobin for Congress campaign to make sure you heard what our Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick said the other night at a debate about Social Security.

After all the wasteful spending Kirkpatrick and President Obama have done in Washington, now they want to pay for it all on the backs of our seniors.

Kirkpatrick said she supports raising Social Security taxes, which would hit hard working Arizonans and small businesses.

And she supports a risky plan that would change the Social Security benefit formula.

Andy Tobin opposes Kirkpatrick’s irresponsible Social Security plan and will take the lead in Congress to protect both Social Security and Medicare. Andy Tobin opposes raising the retirement age, cutting benefits and raising taxes on seniors.

The choice in this election is pretty clear. Kirkpatrick is just wrong for Arizona and for seniors.

TUCSON – Retired Air Force Colonel Martha McSally over the weekend released a new ad, “Committed,” featuring the endorsements of Southern Arizona seniors who trust McSally to fight for their retirement benefits. McSally has shown a commitment to protecting Social Security and Medicare for current seniors and preserving them for her generation and the next, even opposing her own party’s budget proposal because it does not protect promises made to seniors.

“Seniors know that in this race, there’s only one candidate who’s shown an unwavering commitment to protecting their benefits, and that’s Martha,” said McSally Campaign Spokesman Patrick Ptak. “Unlike Ron Barber, who has repeatedly voted to rob Medicare to pay for Obamacare and even praised cuts to Medicare, Martha will stand up for the voices of Southern Arizona seniors. She believes promises made should be promises kept, and that’s why seniors from both parties are getting behind her.”

McSally’s new ad features Democrats and Republicans supporting her as the best candidate to defend seniors’ retirement benefits. In July, McSally wrote an op-ed on the need to come together to find bipartisan solutions that will protect retirement benefits and preserve them for the next generation. Ron Barber, on the other hand, has repeatedly voted to cut Medicare and lauded cuts to Medicare in a 2012 debate, calling them “over-payments.”

Below is the front page article of the July 15 Arizona Capitol Times. I want to express my appreciation to those courageous and principled County and LD Republican Committees who have already conducted votes of “censure” and/or “no confidence.”

Jan Brewer, the legislators and their crony capitalist friends that support ObamaCare and Medicaid expansion have betrayed Americans, Arizona Republicans and the Republican Party Platform. Their lack of ethics, integrity and egregious acts are motivated by only two things – greed and the lust for power – at the expense of hard working tax paying Americans.

The law was expected to cost $898 billion over the first decade when the bill was first passed, but this year the Congressional Budget Office revised that estimate to $1.85 trillion. Money that will have to be borrowed from the Chinese or printed in the backroom of the Federal Reserve. Latest polls indicate a majority of Americans are opposed to ObamaCare and Medicaid expansion with an overwhelming majority of Republicans in opposition.

During the past six months, we did everything we could to make a solid argument against ObamaCare and Medicaid expansion, we tried to reason with these people and even tried to make them see the light. Unfortunately, our lobbying efforts fell on deaf ears and without success.

During one of Ronald Reagan’s difficult political battles he said,

“When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.”

I’m asking all the County and LD Republican Committees to make these people feel the heat by passing public censures for their actions. They are elitists who think what they have done should be forgiven. They are mistaken. We are not going to be able to defeat all of them, but we can defeat a majority of them in the 2014 Primary Election.

You can go to “MCRC Briefs” and get examples of public censures that have already been passed. http://briefs.maricopagop.org/ Just type “censure” in the search field on the left.

Warmest regards,

A. J. LaFaro

Chairman, Maricopa County Republican Committee

P.S. Please encourage all of your PCs to keep up their daily efforts in getting petition signatures for www.urapc.org Getting ObamaCare and Medicaid expansion on the November 2014 ballot will be historic for Arizona’s grassroots conservatives.

Governor Brewer suspended the rules in the House to ram Obamacare and a Democrat unbalanced budget through the legislature. So it is not a surprise that the Governor’s Team intends to bend every rule in the book to prevent the Republican Party from their constitutionally defined right to collect signatures to veto her.

She rolled the Senate.
She suspended the rules and rolled the House.
Watch out PC’s – YOUR TURN.

The Fake Petition
The Governor is PAYING signature gatherers to follow the URAPC alliance to create confusion and lead people to think they have already signed a petition.
The Governor’s team of BRAT’s is weak.

• They do not have a real petition.

• They do not have a real Proposition.

• They are a weak alternative to the passion and commitment found at URAPC.

Details of the BRAT Petition
The BRAT’s are carrying a paper with the title: “Petition in Support of Health Care for Arizonans Who Need it Most.”

The Governor continues her strategy of paying to get her way because she cannot win on principle. Her team has hired w ell known traditionally conservative signature gatherers, folks who have worked for Senator Russell Pearce and Sheriff Joe so they will not work for URAPC.

URAPC has approximately 13,000 petitions throughout the state of Arizona. Small business owners who are proud Democrats are joining the Alliance of Principled conservatives to save their businesses and the jobs they create.

For further information or to schedule an interview in advance, please contact Ben Carnes at ben.carnes@mail.house.gov or, by phone, at 202-579-0005.

###

Congressman Franks is serving his fifth term in the U.S. House of Representatives and is a member of the Judiciary Committee, where he serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and a member of the Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial and Administrative Law. He is also a member of the Armed Services Committee, where he serves on the Strategic Forces Subcommittee and the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities.

Ben Quayle wants you to work harder and longer to get to your retirement. What gives? This guy has only worked hard for his bowling handicap. Based on pictures he posts on his campaign Facebook page he LOVES to bowl.

Enough of that. Back to reality. Sorry Ben, but it just doesn’t wash with me to reduce the deficit on the backs of us hardworking citizens. It clearly shows you are out of touch with the regular guy out there.

You graduated from law school in 2002 and finally after several attempts passed the Bar in Arizona in 2009. So quit lying saying you’ve been practicing law in Arizona since you’ve moved here. YOU CANNOT FOOL THE CITIZENS OF CD 3.

And, congressional seats CANNOT be bought here using DC money from cronies of the 1980’s and 1990’s.

We weren’t raised with a silver spoon in our mouth and I don’t believe we want a silver spoon representing us in CD 3.

We already know that Social Security is in serious trouble but when the Social Security Trustees begin releasing news that there will be NO Cost of Living Adjustments in 2010, you have to wonder if the end is closer than we realize.

Indicators like that are akin to employers saying no more overtime or pay raises are frozen. It’s usually what happens right before the employer informs everyone of mass layoffs. You simply don’t come out with major bad news at one moment in time.

This will be the first time that the SSA has not provided a cost of living adjustment in 35 years. The Associated Press reports that the COLA will not occur because it is pegged to inflation and inflation was negative due to a reduction in energy costs in 2008.

But the AP report makes no mention of the anticipated dramatic increase of inflation due to the US Treasury printing up and flooding the market with greenbacks.

Watch for this to be a major issue in the 2010 mid-term elections. You can bet this will not sit well with seniors who have paid into the system all their life.

A final note. This is a great example of why individuals should plan for their own future and not rely on the federal government to be there to bail them out. I solidly endorse the growing movement to “Opt Out” of dependency on the government. It’s no longer a matter of “if” but “when.”

Huge hat tip to Josh Berstein at ABC15 for his coverage of the recent Social Security Administration conference/junket at the posh Arizona Biltmore Resort.

This event was held for top SSA managers to help them de-stress over the wages of doing their job. Of course, you paid for it.

I for one am outraged by the use of my tax dollars going to a federal agency which will NOT be around when I retire. With the Obama Administration throwing trillions of dollars toward every other new government program while Social Security goes bankrupt, what makes them think that these new programs will be run any more efficient?

I for one am a part of the growing Opt Out Movement which believes that our government is on the verge of a massive failure. When the ship goes down, I don’t want to be anywhere near it.

One question: While the federal government continues to inject itself into a multitude of industries is anyone asking about the fed’s track record on Social Security? I was under the impression – as were many others – that the Social Security system was going bankrupt and would collapse within a decade. So I ask the question, whatever happened to the issue of Social Security reform? I propose that the federal government allow individuals who want out of the system to get out and do our own thing. For those of you who believe Social Security will be around for you, I’ve got a federal bailout to sell you.

About Sonoran Alliance

Arizona's most popular and prominent political blog covering political news and events, commentary and information with a blatantly conservative worldview. We are an alliance of writers, activists, consultants and government insiders.